development report 2012 - UMAR

Development Report 2012
Introductory remarks
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Introductory remarks
The Development Report is a document, in which we monitor the realisation of Slovenia’s Development Strategy
(SDS 2005–2013) and comment on the implementation of current international strategic goals, which are also
binding for Slovenia. SDS, adopted by the Slovenian Government in June 2005, sets out the vision and objectives
of Slovenia’s development until 2013, classifying them into five development priorities. This year’s report presents
an overview and an assessment of the implementation of the strategy from its adoption up to 2011, except in
cases where the latest data are only available for earlier years (2010, and rarely, 2009). It also comments on the
implementation of the Europe 2020 goals (A European Strategy for Smart, Sustainable, and Inclusive Growth),
to which Slovenia committed itself at the national level. In interpreting the findings of the Development Report,
we take into account that the starting points for some of these goals have changed substantially both in the EU
and in Slovenia because of the economic crisis, which broke out at the end of 2008. In certain areas SDS goals can
therefore no longer be achieved. Our analyses and findings are therefore primarily focussed on movements in the
period from the beginning of the crisis in comparison with other countries and the most recent guidelines at the
level of the EU. The analysis therefore also includes a set of indicators for detection of excessive imbalances at the
EU level, the results of which were first released at the beginning of 2012. The Slovenian Government took note of
the Development Report 2012 at its 11 th regular session of 19 April 2012 and accepted it as an analytical basis for
its economic and development policies.
The Development Report is divided into two parts: Part I presents an overview of the implementation of SDS
across the five development priorities; Part II documents progress by means of development indicators. The
findings in the report are mostly based on results obtained through the set of indicators that were designed to
monitor development. We have also consulted other sources (national and international research, reports on the
implementation of sectoral strategies and programmes), particularly in areas where no relevant indicators were
available due to a shortage of data. The appendix contains a quantitative aggregate assessment of development,
which supplements the expert approach of the Report, although it cannot replace a comprehensive assessment
of progress in individual areas due to the time and geographical limitations in the availability of data necessary
for calculation.
In a period of economic crisis, some development indicators should be interpreted with caution, as their values
were significantly affected by the contraction of gross domestic product. These are indicators that are expressed
in terms of gross domestic product (as a share of GDP) for the purposes of benchmarking between countries and
over time. However, in a period of strong short-term fluctuations of economic activity, they are under a significant
impact of changes in gross domestic product, which must be taken into account in analysing changes in their value
over time and in comparison with other countries that did not experience such fluctuations in the analysed period.
In this year’s report, we therefore also highlight changes in absolute values of these indicators for the year.
The Report is based on official statistical data of domestic and foreign institutions available by the beginning
of April 2012. In the analysis, Slovenia was mostly compared with the 27 EU Member States, and only as a matter of
exception with the EU-25 average, whenever data for the newest EU Member States, Bulgaria and Romania, were
not yet available. The terms “European average“ or “EU average“ thus refer to the group of EU-27 countries; the
term “old Member States“ means the EU-15 group, whereas the EU-12 countries that joined the European Union
after the latest enlargement rounds in 2004 and 2007 are referred to as the “new Member States“.